WORCESTER -- The Massachusetts State Police detective who investigated the 2003 shooting death of Christian Perez testified Wednesday that cellphone records and items found in defendant Tony A. Ancrum's car linked him to the crime, as well as a letter he sent to his mother from prison.

Reading aloud from the letter in Superior Court on Wednesday during Ancrum's murder trial, Capt. Michael Lyver said: "T. took it upon himself to shoot the gun and he did not have to."

When referring to three other men involved in the Sept. 3 Middle Street shooting in his letter, Ancrum only names them with single letters and not full names.

On the night of the shooting, Ancrum had been with Tyrone Strong, 38, of Boston; Giovanni Rivera, 32, of Dorchester; and Mitchell Rivera, 36, formerly of Boston, all of whom have also been indicted in the death of Perez.

Jurors had earlier heard testimony that Ancrum was traveling east through Harvard on Route 2 with Strong and the Riveras in a vehicle matching a description of a car seen at the shooting on the night Perez was killed. Three loaded handguns were found in the car.

"They only found two guns. None of the guns they found was the gun," Ancrum wrote in his letter.

He also wrote that Jovanny Espiritusanto, who had been driving in a car with Perez at the time of the shooting and survived his injuries, might be able to identify people involved in the shooting.

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"The one that lived could point A. and T. out because A. was in their car and T. went up to the window. The one that lived probably got a good look at A. for sure," he wrote.

Lyver said that investigators had spoken with Espiritusanto and described him as having been "uncooperative." Lyver also said that Espiritusanto has since relocated to Puerto Rico.

While ballistic testing proved that none of the three guns found in Ancrum's car had ejected the shell casings found at the scene of the shooting, Lyver said that live rounds found in the guns from the car matched the casings on Middle Street.

Also found in the car were several items that Assistant District Attorney Brett Dillon alleged belonged to Perez, including a CD, charger cable, and CD case, which Perez' late girlfriend, Migdalia Cruz, identified as having belonged to them.

Lyver also testified Cruz identified a watch she said she purchased for Perez, which was found on Mitchell Rivera when he was arrested the night of the shooting.

Cellphone records, Lyver testified, indicate that Ancrum was in Fitchburg on the night of the shooting, contrary to statements he made to police about being in Shirley at the time Perez would have been killed.

According to Lyver, Ancrum's phone pinged a cell tower in Roxbury before 6 p.m. that night, then continually pinged other cell towers in a "westward projection," eventually pinging towers in Leominster and then Fitchburg at 8:41 p.m. Phone records show Ancrum's phone then pinged a tower east of the scene of the shooting after Perez had been killed.

Lyver testified that the phone records also showed that Mitchell Rivera had called Perez five times between 6:48 p.m. and 7:58 p.m. that night.

On Wednesday, defense attorney Daniel Cronin called on James Streeter, a certified footwear examiner and forensic consultant, to testify on the shoe prints found at the scene of the murder.

Streeter explained that he agreed with former Massachusetts State Police homicide investigator Brian O'Hara, who testified Tuesday, that prints found at the scene could have been left Ancrum's shoes, as well as any other shoe of the same design, shape, and size.

However, he said there were no cuts, holes or wear patterns on the shoe's soles that could positively identify as being those as worn by Ancrum that night.

Ancrum has been held without bail since being indicted in 2014. He was sentenced to two years in prison in 2010 after pleading guilty to drug and firearm charges related to the traffic stop made by state troopers the night of the shooting.

Strong and the Rivera brothers were also charged with cocaine trafficking and illegal possession of a large-capacity weapon in 2003, as well as possession of ammunition without a license and possession of an unlicensed firearm at home or work when they were indicted in 2015.

Wednesday marked the third and final day of Ancrum's trial. Closing arguments from the defense and prosecution are scheduled for Thursday.

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